By Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
. Keeping it in the Kern family (pictured)
. Replace-a-maestro: latest sudden ascent of a young conductor
. Almanac: Mexican-American guitarist and singer Lydia Mendoza, Groundbreaking pianist Louise Farrenc
HAPPENING TODAY:
At 7:30 pm, Piano Cleveland hosts a new episode in its 2023 Listening Series — Cleveland International Piano Competition Dynamic Duos: “It’s all Relative.” Olga Kern joins her son Vladislav in a presentation about the joys of working together as a musical family. Disciples Christian Church 3663 Mayfield Rd. Cleveland Heights. Click here for tickets.
IN THE NEWS:
From The New York Times:
Thomas Guggeis was a young repetiteur at the Berlin State Opera five years ago when he was asked a career-changing question: Could he conduct “Salome”?
He had worked with the singers, but this new production of Strauss’s opera was meant to be led by the veteran maestro Christoph von Dohnányi — until a dispute with the director led him to back out mere hours before the final dress rehearsal. So Guggeis went on in his place. And he was back in the pit on opening night.
“This was a situation of a star is born,” said Bernd Loebe, the general manager of Frankfurt Opera, who saw Guggeis lead that performance. Read the story by Joshua Barone here.
ALMANAC FOR MAY 31:
by Jarrett Hoffman
We’ll mention in passing some well-known musicians born on May 31 — French composer and gambist Marin Marais (1656), English countertenor and conductor Alfred Deller (1912), American mezzo-soprano Shirley Verrett (1931), and American harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper (1941) — or who checked out on that date (Franz Joseph Haydn in 1809) and highlight two women — one pianist-composer, one guitarist and singer — who share a birthday on the final day of the fifth month.
Born in 1804 in Paris, Louise Farrenc built up a stellar reputation at the keyboard during the 1830s, leading to her appointment in 1842 as piano professor at the Paris Conservatory. She remained in that position for 30 years, making her the only female tenured professor at the Conservatory during the entire 19th century.
As a composer, it was in chamber music where she left her strongest legacy. Her two piano quintets, Op. 30 and 31, were especially renowned, and she won the Académie des Beaux-Arts’ Chartier Prize twice. The premiere of her 1849 Nonet in E-flat, Op. 38, helped her achieve a level of pay equal to that of her male colleagues.
Jumping forward by a century and westward by an ocean, we come to Mexican-American guitarist and singer Lydia Mendoza. Born in Houston in 1916, Mendoza has been described as “The Mother of Tejano Music” — that popular genre bringing together influences of Mexico and America. She is celebrated for the proud display of her culture during a time in the U.S. when such displays invited harassment and even deportation.
Among the many honors she accumulated over the course of her six-decade career, Mendoza performed at the inauguration of Jimmy Carter and was part of the first class of National Heritage Fellowships given by the National Endowment for the Arts. Of the estimated 200 Spanish-language songs she recorded across several labels, she was particularly famous for Mal Hombre, which she sings in an arresting performance here.
Those we lost on May 31 include British lyricist William S. Gilbert (1911), Czech composer Josef Suk (1935), and American composer George Rochberg (2005).
